Presentations and Projects
Community Project
This is a presentation compiled by a couple classmates and I, which outlines a project that could be implemented in an area of the United States that is a food desert whose population consists of a different ethnicity than our own. Our project focused on Little Haiti in Miami, FL, and our idea was to implement a food subscription box, much like Hello Fresh, but cater it to the Haitian population, using culturally appropriate recipes which are written in Creole and English. Our boxes could also be purchased with SNAP benefits, making it available for low income households in the community.
Public Policy Letter
This project was inspired by my time working at Walt Disney World, and how they’ve developed processes to handle guests who dine at their restaurants with food allergies or intolerances. My policy suggests that more restaurants adopt similar policies and procedures to make restaurant guests with food allergies feel more safe about eating at that restaurant, and the staff feels confident that the food they serving.
Blog Posts
Vegetarian Cooking
This is a blog post centered around, you guessed it, vegetarian cooking! This post talks about nutrients of interest in vegetarian or vegan diets such as iron, B12, protein, and omega 3 fatty acids. I walk through a broccoli dish made with peanuts and nutritional yeast and also experiment with different chia seed puddings.
Easy Dorm Meals for Athletes
This is a blog post I created for athletes describing the benefits of making meals in the comforts of your dorm versus relying on the dining center on campus. It gives ideas for breakfast, pre-workout mini meal, and post-workout mini meals.
Cooking Videos
Culturally Diverse Cooking Demonstration
This cooking video features my friend, who is of Mexican heritage. The purpose of the video is to showcase “healthified” versions of traditional Mexican dishes. The dishes we demonstrate are guacamole with seasoned house-baked tortilla chips and calabaza con pollo.
How to Cook Tofu and Tempeh
The video was made for a sports dietitian who works with high school and college athletes, but it is appropriate for anyone who is unfamiliar with tofu and wants to add this excellent source of plant-based protein to their diet! I talk about extra firm/firm tofu, silken tofu, and tempeh and all the different ways they can be prepared.
Educational Handouts
This first series of handouts was designed for a low income population with average 8th grade level education living in Lake County, Florida. This population gets most of their food from local food pantries and their most prevalent health problems are diabetes and hypertension
Basic Diabetes
This handout talks about why people with diabetes should care about carbohydrate intake, along with tips to counting carbs, and which foods contain carbohydrates
Nutrition Facts Label Reading
This handout covers the basics of reading the Nutrition Facts label emphasizing serving size, types of fat, total carbohydrates, fiber, and sodium
Carbohydrate Containing Foods
This handout breaks down carbohydrate containing foods by food group, and also shows what 1 serving (15g) looks like
General Healthy Eating
This handout is inspired by MyPlate and the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020. It gives general healthy eating tips such as filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables and limiting added sugars, sodium, and saturated fat intake
This series of handouts was created for National Nutrition Month, and were handed out at a booth outside the cafeteria at AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares, FL. I decided to feature plant-based eating and linked it with heart health, because this population’s favorite cafeteria lunch options are fried foods, as observed during my food service rotation.
About Plant-Based
This handout talks about what a plant-based diet entails, and how it is not equivalent to vegetarian/vegan. It talks about the health benefits of a diet which emphasizes plant foods and touches on the environmental benefits as well.
Heart Health
This handout breaks down the basics of a heart healthy diet. It talks about the different types of fat, sodium, phytochemicals, cholesterol, plant-based proteins, and fiber.
Tofu Chocolate Mousse
This yummy recipe is an easy way to add plant-based protein to a sweet treat!
WIC Handouts
Vegan/Vegetarian Food Groups
This handout gives guidelines for pregnant women who are vegan or vegetarian on how many servings from each food group is recommended. It also gives examples of what a serving size from each food group looks like.
Plant-Based Pregnancy
This handout highlights different nutrients that are of interest among vegetarian or vegan pregnant women, such as iron, B12, and vitamin D. It explains ways to increase intake of these nutrients, to help ensure their baby gets all the nutrition it requires.